Apparatus for converting, storing, and utilizing wind-power.



PATENTED DEC. 17, 1907. B. VALIQUET.

G, STORING, AND UTILIZING WIND P urn-onto]! FILED JUNE 15. 1906.

OWER.

APPARATUS FOR GONVERTIN 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

V-IIPATBNTED DEC. 17, 1907.

B. VALIQUE'IL WER.

APPARATUS FOR OONVBRTIN APPLIOATIQH FILED JUNE 15. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- i To dl lwhomit mag concern: 1

. umTEDs A'rE-s PATENT-OFFIGEiw:

BENJAMIN VALI' UET, or cmcieo, ILLINOIS..-

A ATUs r'on com-Mme, s'ronnm, m a m Be itknownthat I, BENJAMIN Vauqun'r,

' a citizen of the United States, and a resident:

- of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State 1 5 of Illinois, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus f r'Conim rfi s of which the fol owing,'when taken inconliection' with the drawing and Utilizing .W' e rower,

accompanying. and

description, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to which it pertains to understand,

make, and use the same; My invention relates to apparatus for stormg a1r bywmd power by means of successive compressions, and for transmitting and utile object of the invention is toobtain mechanisms by means of which air stored under'pressure may be economically used and the used air returned to the storage pressure r tank {land to obtain mechanisms b means of whic h ate machinery.

view, on an enl'arg "such stored air mayhem toactu- The invention is embodied thefseveral constructions illustrated the drawing ferred to,inwhich g Figure 1 is an elevation of such ap aratus including a plurality'of ivind motors, orming elements thereof. Fi 2 is an elevation, on an enlarged scale, oft eap aratus er'nbody-' ing this invention, with t e wind motors top plan view of the aratus which .iire

4 is a to an ed sc agle, of the eiiieral several parts :of the a illustrated in Fig. '2.

- partsof the apparatus embodying this inven- A reference letter applied to designate .a given art" is uscdi;.to indicate such part throughout the several figures of the drawings wherever the same appears.

A, A, are windmotors.

B is ashaft driven by wind, motors. A, Any number of wind motors desired or required may be used to drive shaft B.

C,""C, are driving wheels on the rotatable I shaft D of the wind motors and d, d, are

"cables; transmitting motion from driving wheel C' on shaft D to wheelsElon shaftcB.

F is a'storagetank H G, G, are for;-a1r under pressure. ."-.-.I "I H is a branched pipe from ml: F

tank into extending from. such storage s wmmioa times-ma. miles filed June 1a, 1906. Serial In. 321.0

for compressed air.

h is, a valve in pipe H'. h J is .an engine. The pipe H forming e coils I, in storage tanks-G, G, is continu mags. tanks? and that formingthecoilsLL- a such coils respectively, (lettered H to the e 'ne J. h are valves in tlie respective'branches a of Epe H,: and h, h, fare. valves'in pipe 'H'; forming a part hereof, IS a full and complete 1s a pipe comniunicating with storage tank G at the other end thereof. t l

,k is a valve in pipe-K. his a condenser in pi I moisture in the air whic flows from 'G intotank F. The pressure intankF is than the pressure in tank G and ai-r .wil-l- 'jfiow from suchtankG through pipe Klinto tank F.

" M is a pump actuated b belfi-m pass'ing .over drivlng wheel mon aft B and over,

drivers-wheel m? on counter shaft v; N is; an inlet pipe to "p' M, uch inlet pipe communicating jwitii pipe H andiis providedjwith valve n thereto. Oi's' the out let'pipe of,,pu'mP M o bm dnic ng withtpipe H between valve h coi 1' the respective tankswG, .G, and withga alve it between it and inletN. 1

* In this apparatus the engineJ is actuated by air from the storage tank flowing through pipe H; and to obtain air in the a "PM 9 engine J t fan obta ns' n' the same 05 tank F at one end thereof and with storage e K usedtoremove a. H, one, of tliefcoils l andpi'pe quantity of air delivered from the storage tank F and also to raise the ,tem erature of the air from the storage tank F ',efo 1 'e it is delivered to thefenginebs'uch air is warmed in the coil I. For this reasonsuchain is at times forced into the coil meansofpurnlp i .M, the valvesh andn beingp' en and suitab e and "at other ones of valves h, It",close 1 times such air in the tank F is delivered directly into the coils(w ithout use of pump M) and warmed by air forced into tanks G, G, (orthe she thereof in use) around the coil, bycompressors P, Q, or one thereof...

Y RandQ are, respectively, air compressors forcing airinto pressure tank G aroundfthe coil I when there isfsufficient windtoirotate wind motorsA, A, under the loadiof such compressors. At other times one onlyof the com ressors may beactuated by the motors A, I, and at still jother itinny that neither of compresors P, actuated by the motors A, A.

v are that actuated by the wind motors the exhaust air from engine J is drawn into' compressor P and forced therefrominto tank -I by such .wind motors H, H. gis a pipe which may at its inlet end communicate with the dis.

charge end of another air compressor (Q, Fig.4), so that the air compressor Q is the last one of a serles of air compressors, the

first one of such aircompressors receiving the air'from the atmosphere and compressor Q, being the last one of theseries, discharging through pipe g into one of the tanks I.. 2 is a valve in pipe g.

hecompressors P and Q are driven by shaft B by means of drivin Wheels R, R,

belts S, S, and driven whee s r, r, respectively.

The operation of the device is as follo'wsi The Wind motors A, or some of them, are put into action andair is compressed, as by compressor Q, and stored in storage tank F, such air passing through ipe 9, one of the tanks G, G, ,pipe K and co fdeDSGI L. Air in tank F being under sufficient-pressure valve h, is

turned and such air is admitted, to the one of the coils'I, either directly or by way of pipe N, pump M and pipe 0 (in which case the valves It which are in pipe H between pipe 0 and inlet N, are closed and valve n is opened),

40 and valve h is opened to admit such air to the e ine'J, to operate the same.- Such air is dis dfiarged from the exhaust valve of the engine into pipe 10 and from thence flows towaste or into the compressor P'and by such com ressor',- is forced into the tank G. The

airorced into thetank G by'the several compressors P, and Q (or one of them), is at a higher temperature than is the air in the coil and hence the temperature ofthe air in the coil I is raised as itpasses through such coil and the pressure thereof is thereby increased.

When there. is a very light wind, or the pressure in :tank F is unusually light it may occur that as thepressure ofthe air in the coil I is increased by the rise in the temperature 4 thereof, the valve h adjacent to valve h is closed and thegpum 'M isput into action so that the air in pipe adjacent tothe storage tank F is drawn from such pipe by the pump M and forced throu h ipe 0 from the ump M back into' ipe ad jacent to tank G and into the coil The several compressors and ump M are all actuated by the shaft B an the several I 5 wind mators are all connected to such shaft B m actiiate' at end a; many'of'suchmotom and compressors are "used as the velocity of the wind prevailing permits or requires.

The power of the engine J, may, however be kept constant as as p lus of air under pressure may be obtained lntank F b'ythe running of the wind motors'during the night or other hours when engine J is not in use. The engine J is used to run any machinery desired, as say a creamery or a machine shop Aplurahty of tanks G are preferably used by me and such tanks .areemployed alternately to receive [the discharge from the air.

-co'm'press0rs P, Q and to supply air under presspre from the coil I therein to the enne It will be observed that the pressure in the tanks is nearly equal, the pressure intanks G being enough greater than that in tank F to cause a flow from such tanks G into tank Fwhile the pressure in the'coil and in the engine is conslderably less than is the pressure in tank F; and the difference in pressure is obtained and maintained by partially opening thevalves h, or k so t at enoug air is not discharged therethrough to permit the pressure in the coil I in either one of the tanks G, G, in view of the use of air from the coil by the 'engine, to equalize with the pressure in such tank F. And this is true although the air in the coil is warmed by the air in tank G so that an increase in pressure of the air in the coil-is obtained while such air is in the coil by such Warming.

For mstance assume the pressure 1n tank 1 F is one hundredpounds per square inch and that the pressure'of air in the engine is sixty pounds per square inch. In such case valves h and it. may beopened so as to maintain say forty pounds pressure in the coil,

while the engine 1s operating and drawing its supply from such coil; and the air in the coil is being heated by the contents of, tank G and because of such heating twentypounds of pressure is added to the the coil-so maintaining sixty coil; forty thereofsuplplied from tank F and twenty from heat apip The pump M woul not, in the above described'operation be'used. In case however thepressure in tank F is lower than the pressure in coil I, before the coil and contents are heated, the um M will force air'from tank F into coil l an thereafter air will be forced into tank G by compressors P, Q and the rod pounds pressure in -theedtocoilIintankG.

pressure of the air in .the coil will be in-- i I claim is new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is Having thus described my invention what 1. The combinationof a storage tank, a

supplemental tank incommunication with the storage tank, a coil in the supplemental tank, an engine, such coil in communication I with the storage tank by means of a restricted passage way and in communication with the inlet port'of the engine, a compressor in communication with the exhaust port of the engine and with the supplemental tank, a

wind motor, a rotatable shaft, a connection between the wind motor and the. rotatable shaft and a connection between the rotatable shaft and the compressor, substantially as described.

I supplemental 2. The combination of a storage tank, a tank in communication with the storage tank, a coil in the supplemental tank, an engine, such coil in communication with the storage tank by means of a restricted passage way and in communication with the engine, a compressor 1n commumcation with the exhaust port of the engine and with the supplemental tank, a wind motor and a connection between the wind motor and the compressor; substantially as described.

3. The combination of a storage tank, a plurality of wind motors, a supplemental tank, and an engine with means to apply force generated by the wind motors to the air dischar ed from the exhaust ports of the engine an to deposit such air, under pressure and while the temperature thereof is raised by such pressure above climatic temperature, in, the supplemental tank, means to convey air from t e storage tank to the inlet port of the engine and to subject such air, between such stora e tank and such inlet ports to the compressed air at its raised temperature, means to limit the supply. of air from the storage tank tothe coil, and means to apply force generated by the wind motors to an at'atmospheric pressure and to deposit such air under pressureand while the temperature thereof is raisedby such pressure in the supplemental'tank;. substantially as described. A

4. The combination of a plurality of wind motors, a shaft, means to drive the shaft'by the combined action of the, several motors which are in operation, a 'storagetank, a supplemental tank, a coil in the supplementalv 5. The combination of a supply tank to contain air under pressure, an additional tank also arranged to contalnair under pressure, a pipe communicating with the tanks,

a coil in the additional tank, an engine, a

pipe communicating with thefirst named tank and with the coil and a pipe communicating with the coil and with the inlet of the engine, compressors, pipes respectively communicating with the dischar compressors and with the ad itional tank, a pipe communicating with the exhaust port of the engine and with the inlet of one of the compressors, and means to force air from the first named supply tank through the coil;

substantially as described. I

BENJAMIN VALIQUET.

In the presence of CHARLES TURNER BROWN, CORA A. ADAMs.

e pipe of the 

